Making Tax Digital, Free and Open
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This is a new place for discussing the UK government's Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative. In particular how we as a community can continue to file our taxes freely in terms of both:
- Avoiding high fees and vendor lock-in to commercial software
- Maintaining user freedoms with free and open source software
We are starting some 'wiki' posts that will answer the main questions and be continually updated from your comments:
Disclaimer: we are not experts and cannot guarantee accuracy here. Always seek your own financial advice.
Our banner is in the public domain and titled "G. Reisch, Margarita philosophica" from the Wellcome Collection (source) It's a medieval illustration showing a woman sitting at a counting table and a man at another table using an abacus.
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Welcome! The idea for this community came from a Mastodon post:
https://floss.social/@IanTwenty/114868391122043853
...and the forthcoming changes to how UK individuals and business will have to file their taxes, i.e. Making Tax Digital (MTD).
For some these changes may mean they are compelled to subscribe to a commercial software package and/or change their ways of working considerably. For some small businesses the cost of accounting software and services may be their largest expense.
My fear is that the MTD changes mean there can never be a free and open source alternative to managing personal and business finances in the UK. I hope I'm wrong.
Through this community it would be great to share and discuss:
- The changes that are coming in the UK government's Making Tax Digital initiative, both for individuals and businesses.
- How to keep filing taxes without having to subscribe to expensive accounting software.
- How to maintain our freedom when filing and paying taxes - freedom over what software you run and what it does with your personal/company data.
- I am very interested in the possibility of starting a free/open source project that could be compliant with the MTD requirements that we all might use - OR discovering and supporting such a project if it already exists.
- Lessons from other countries that have been/are going through a similar transition. I understand parts of MTD may be addressing an EU-wide effort to address fraud.
Please check out our sidebar which will be updated with important posts and links.
We are hosted on feddit.uk, a UK-centric Lemmy instance so thanks to them for having us. They have a code of conduct, please abide by that (see What are the rules here? in their homepage sidebar).
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Making a start on a list of software from your suggestions, will be adding many more to this soon. Where data is missing in a cell it's because it hasn't been checked yet.
The government's own site says:
There are other software products in development for the 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027 tax years.
So expect this to grow.
To use this table for your own analysis/filtering you can just copy/paste it straight into a spreadsheet.
| Name | Pricing | Registration | License | Software for | Submissions in 2025 to 2026 | User type | Software type | Making Tax Digital Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 2 3 Sheets Ltd | Paid version | Bridging, Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based, application based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| 100PcVatFreeBridge(1) | Free (donations accepted) | None | Proprietary | Bridging | VAT Returns | Agent, Individual | Application based (Windows, Linux, Mac) | VAT |
| @Coconut | Paid version | Bridging, Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| Absolute Excel Income Tax Filer | Paid version | Bridging | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | Income Tax | ||
| Acorah Software Products Ltd (TaxCalc) | Paid version | Bridging | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent | Application based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| Andica Accounting Software | Paid version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates | Agent, Individual | Web based, application based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| ApariPro | Paid version | Bridging, Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | Income Tax | ||
| Capium Limited — MTD for IT | Paid version | Bridging, Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| CCH iFirm MTD for Income Tax | Paid version | Bridging | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent | Web based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| Clear Books | Paid version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| Clear Books Free | Free version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| Dext | Paid version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | Income Tax | ||
| Digita Personal Tax — Thomson Reuters | Paid version | Bridging | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent | Application based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| Forbes MTD | Paid version | Bridging | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based, application based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| FreeAgent | Free version, Paid version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| Hammock for landlords | Paid version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based, application based | Income Tax | ||
| Intuit QuickBooks Online | Paid version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | Income Tax | ||
| IRIS Accountancy Suite | Paid version | Bridging | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent | Application based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| IRIS Elements Cashbook | Paid version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | Income Tax | ||
| IRIS Elements Tax | Paid version | Bridging | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent | Web based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| IRIS Kashflow | Paid version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| MYT | Paid version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| Nomi | Paid version | Bridging, Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based, application based | Income Tax | ||
| QuickFile Accounting Software | Free version, Paid version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| Sage Accounting | Paid version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| Sage Individual | Free version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| self assessment direct | Free version | Bridging, Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Application based | VAT, Income Tax | ||
| TaxNav | Free version | Bridging, Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Individual | Web based | Income Tax | ||
| untied | Paid version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | Income Tax | ||
| Xero MTD for IT | Paid version | Record keeping | Quarterly updates, Self Assessment tax return | Agent, Individual | Web based | VAT, Income Tax |
Community sources (marked with footnote numbers above):
- 1: 100PcVatFreeBridge via fakeman_pretendname's comment
Official sources:
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As part of our journey to modernise and digitise our filing routes, all accounts must be filed using commercial software from 1 April 2027.
These changes seem to be in addition to the Making Tax Digital intiative and will drag every company into using commercial software as far as I can tell. They are part of the "Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act" according to the government.
I don't see how any company regardless of size, will avoid this. It's not clear to me if small/micro companies will be able to avoid it as the link also says this:
From 1 April 2027, we’re also streamlining the accounts filing options for small and micro-entity companies.
Micro-entities will be required to file a copy of their balance sheet and profit and loss account.
Small companies will be required to file a copy of balance sheet, directors’ report, auditor’s report (unless exempt) and profit and loss account.
Companies will no longer be able to prepare and file ‘abridged’ accounts.
Can you file these items without commercial software? Not sure.
If anyone knows more please tell in the comments. I think I'll need to update the community wiki post on who is affected also.
Image is from source licensed under Open Goverment License v3
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Note: this post is intended as a community wiki that will be continually updated from your comments and any new information as it arises.
Disclaimer: always seek your own advice on financial matters. We can't guarantee accuracy!
There are two groups affected by the Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative:
1. Individuals
If you work for yourself as a sole trader or earn money from property you are likely affected. There are thresholds to be met (on gross annual income) but they may change in future. There are some narrow exemptions including some based on age, disability and broadband access.
The current roll-out dates and thresholds are:
- 6 April 2026 if your turnover is above £50,000
- 6 April 2027 if your turnover is above £30,000
- 6 April 2028 if your turnover is above £20,000
The government refer to this as "Making Tax Digital for Income Tax" and you can read more here: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax - HMRC guide.
2. Businesses
If you are registered for VAT you should already by complying with MTD as the deadlines have passed. You can voluntarily register for VAT but if your annual taxable turnover is over £90k it's mandatory: when to register for VAT - GOV.UK.
Companies that pay corporation tax will also eventually join MTD too (see timescale for implementation - wikipedia.org). I don't think we have a firm deadline on that yet but if anyone has firm info let me know in a comment!
The wise wiki owl is from source, copyright K.-M. Hansche - Edited by: Arad, CC BY-SA 2.5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
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